Running in Place
by android727
Summary: One-shot. Years after the Promised Day, Ed has a problem. Can Roy help pull him out of his rut? Parental!RoyEd.


Roy had only visited Ed in Resembol three times in the past five years. Once, while he was on a mission in an adjacent town, and stopped by as a surprise. The second time, for Ed and Winry's wedding. And the third, well, now, after an alarming telegram from Alphonse.

 _I'm in Xing, but Ed hasn't replied to my letters. I'm worried. Can you send someone to check on him? -Alphonse_

And while the circumstances for each visit had been different, one thing was always the same: Ed was never home.

This time, Roy decided not to search his home right away. He tried to put himself in Ed's shoes. The kid was always obsessed with the story of Icarus, the boy who got too close to the sun and got violently struck back down to Earth. He'd be somewhere high, somewhere secluded. Somewhere sentimental.

Roy found him sitting in a tree by the ruins of his old home. He was lying down, nose in a book.

Military training gave Roy the added benefit of knowing how to silence his footsteps when needed. Roy silently treaded through the green grass. It was late Spring, too late for rain, too early for it to be piercingly hot.

Roy waited until he was directly underneath the tree before speaking, "What you got there, Fullmetal?"

A startled gasp, branches rustling, and a loud _thump_ later (made even louder due to the automail leg), emerged an annoyed and startled Edward Elric.

"Who do you think you are? Can't you see I'm reading here…" He began, before looking up at the man. "Colonel?"

"That's Brigadier General to you, pipsqueak."

"Who are you calling a… What are you doing here, Mustang?" Ed said, dropping the title. Roy found his expression unreadable. His brows were scrunched together and his left arm was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"Happy to see me?" Roy said, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice. He came all this way to see what was going on with Ed.

"Did Al tell you to come?" Ed asked, ignoring Roy's question. He knelt down to pick the book off the ground, and dusted the cover.

"Biomedical Alchemy, huh?" Roy asked examining the cover. "Some things never change."

"Guess not." A wind scattered dandelion seeds through the silent air.

After a few moments, Roy finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Do you miss it? The alchemy?"

Ed ran a hand through his hair, which, Roy just noticed, was no longer in his signature braid. So much for things not changing. He sat down on the grass, and motioned for Roy to sit next to him.

"Want a drink, _Brigadier General?_ " He asked.

For a reason Roy could not place, and one that had nothing to do with the undercurrents of sarcasm running through Ed's tone, he felt incredibly unsettled by the question.

"How old are you again, Ed?"

"I've lived through enough violence for two lifetimes. Saved the fucking world. Been to hell and back. And you're concerned with _underage drinking_."

Roy couldn't help but flush at the statement. Yes, in context it seemed a bit silly, but Roy always made sure Ed was kept away from drugs and alcohol while under his command. These things were rampant in the military and Roy knew more than anyone the effects of alcohol. How the burn as it runs down your throat is a bit stronger than the guilt, but never strong enough to make it completely subside. How your lightheadedness makes your sins feel just a little less heavy. How good it feels to forget, for once, no matter how little you deserve it.

Roy understood it fully.

A dry chuckle, and Ed spoke again, "If it's any consolation, _Brigadier General_ , I'm 21."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what? Your fancy new title?" Ed couldn't help the smirk that came across his face.

"Yes. It sounds like an insult from you."

"Whatever you say, _sir."_

"Nope." Roy shook his head.

"You're making this hard."

"You're making this harder." Roy turned his body a little, and held out a hand to Ed. Ed stared at it for a moment, and before he could move, the Flame Alchemist spoke. "Call me Roy."

If he wasn't so prideful, Ed would have gasped. Instead, his eyes widened a bit. But as soon as the shock came it was swallowed down. He didn't shake Roy's hand, and after a while, he gave up and rested his arm in the grass. "Okay, Roy," he began, the name sounding foreign on his tongue, "Why are you here?"

"To ask you the same question. Ed, why are _you_ here?"

"I live here." He answered, slow as if Roy was a child.

"No, Ed. You live at home, with Winry. But you're never there. And Al says you're not writing to him anymore."

"So _that's_ what this is about." He said incredulously, lifting his arms up to the air. "I knew he sent you."

"Ed, I know what you're doing."

"You don't know anything about me."

"You're running in place. You want to leave, but a part of you just can't. You're restless. Waiting for the next fight, next adventure, next something. You're not used to this. You're suffocated and bored and want more, so you're running away, but staying right where you began."

"You're wrong." Ed said, his back still turned.

"Yeah? Then why are you still researching alchemy? Why aren't you ever home? Why are you everywhere but nowhere? Ed, it's okay to miss it, it's okay to want more."

"You don't know anything, Mustang."

"Enlighten me. Tell me what it is I'm not getting."

"I shouldn't be like this! It's selfish! It's wrong. Before, all that, they weren't 'adventures'. I wasn't on vacation, I was trying to right a wrong. And now that it's all over. Now that Al has his body back, and I have Winry, and I'm okay, and no one is trying to kill me, and there's no longer a plot to destroy Amestris or whatever, it's all okay, and my biggest problem is that I'm _bored?!_ " His chest heaved with every word. He still couldn't look Mustang in the eye.

"No, Ed. You're not bored. You can do more. You know you can. And it's killing you that you're not."

"I have everything, Roy. I really do. Why can't I be happy?" Ed turns his face, and for the first time, Roy can see everything that's been building, the frustration, the fear, the guilt.

"Because this isn't the life you're meant to live, Ed. Because you like to help people. Because you are adventurous. Because you have so many skills and talents and don't want to sit around doing nothing. It's because you are _you_ , Ed. And that's a beautiful thing."

Ed brought his knees to his chest. He twirled his wedding band around his finger, twenty, maybe thirty times. Roy lost count. "I don't know what to do."

"That, I can't help you with." Roy said, with a sigh. "All I can say is that you have to do something. You can't live like this. You'll wear yourself out. You already have."

"What about Winry?"

"What about her, Ed? She loves you. And she would never want you to be unhappy." With a grunt, Roy rose and stood in front of Ed, holding out a hand to him.

Ed stared for a few seconds before reluctantly grabbing it and standing up. The sun was beginning to come down, and the sky was a brilliant shade of orange rivalling the brightness of Ed's golden eyes.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to buy you a drink," Roy said, walking towards the main road.


End file.
